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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Why did the chicken skip the art lesson?

So, I chickened out on Saturday. Although, when I explain to you my rationale, I'm sure you'll view it as simply a minor speedbump in an otherwise super speedway towards new and exciting experiences.

By Friday afternoon, I had completely convinced myself that I could go to the art session all by my little self. I was grown up enough, I had enough confidence to walk into a room full of strangers, introduce myself and "get to gettin'." If everyone around me was odd or clique-ish, then I could just put my head down and focus on my art. I could be one of those people that just gets so wrapped up in my creativity that I zone out from everything else. I could pretend to be that kind of person for a few hours and then go home with my sketching. That was the plan...

Meetup.com is a wonderful website and I get new and exciting opportunities to experience all that Atlanta has to offer delivered to my inbox on a daily basis. However, I've now learned to do a bit more research because what may seem like important details about the event to me, may be boring and insignificant to the event host or hostess. The sketching session hostess sent a last minute email reminding us all to register with the museum at which the event was to be held in order to get in Saturday night. I followed the link to the registration page, but before I printed out the form, I noticed a small disclaimer on the bottom on the page. "There will be nude models present at this event. Photography is prohibited." Wait, what? Although I realize that nudity in art isn't uncommon, I hadn't factored this element in at all. I totally dismissed the photography restriction after I realized how disturbed I was that they even felt they had to mention that after the nudity explanation. I sat quietly contemplating which route to take. Could I handle this or was I simply looking for a way out of attending this event on my own?

As much as I like to think of myself as this suave, mature, experienced woman of the world, deep down underneath all the layers of false maturity, lies the sense of humor of a 12-year-old boy...just dying to get his time in the spotlight. Occassionally, he does come out to play, throwing toilet humor-esque jokes everywhere inappropriate, sticking his tongue out at people and playing practical jokes at inpractical times. You've all seen him. So, I sat, in continued contemplation, trying to determine if I was in control enough to settle him down and make it through a nude sketching class. A sketching class with nudity. A sketching class in which the model is nude. See! I can't even explain it without tripping over myself. I determined, relatively quickly, I might add, that, in fact, I am not mature enough to go it alone. Had someone gone with me who could have looked over at me with that Disapproving Mother or Father-like look as soon as I started giggling at the thought of sketching certain human anatomy and/or been there giggling with me to cut the self-imposed tension, I may have been able to hack it. But not alone.

And, as I thought this through, I also tried to figure out which I would have preferred sketching, a male or a female model. As an obviously hetero chickadee (if you questioned that, you haven't read much of this blog), of course, I prefer to look at the male form. But sketch it? I don't know...I can't imagine it lends itself well or easily to the beginning sketch artist. But, do I want to sit and scan every inch of a female? Not really. And she'd probably be so perfect that it would nauseate me, make me go home and throw away everything that had more than 100 calories in my refrigerator and walk around the neighborhood with the dog until she almost passed out from exhaustion. It was a toss-up. Good thing I had already made the decision not to go and didn't have to jump back and forth between the sides of that argument in my head all the way to the museum.

So, hopefully I'll continue to find more exciting opportunities on Meetup.com that are a little bit more PG-13 rated and be able to share with you all my comings-and-goings. Or at least, if they are more adult-themed, I can find a companion who also has the humor of a 12-year-old boy subdued enough to create the illusion of adulthood. I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows of fun places to meet new people and try new things...that involve clothing.